As teachers become familiar with blended learning, it becomes easier for them to envision how typical course elements of the traditional land-based classroom may be converted to online equivalents. This table gives a rough idea of how this translation might work. (See Schramm and Mabbott, 2006, for a fuller discussion of the elements they considered in converting their teacher training courses into a VLE.)
Course Elements
Cyber Equivalents
Syllabus
Web page, downloadable document, calendar with emailed reminders
Lecture
Documents, slideshow with multimedia accompaniments, whiteboard, guided Web tour; lecture notes posted for references; podcasts; videos and video conferencing
Whole class discussion
Class bulletin board or forum with email delivery options
Small group discussion
Instant messaging and live chat, group bulletin boards or topic-based forums with email delivery options
Office hours
Email, text and/or voice chat with or without Webcam
Study groups
Email, private chats or forums (students-only), with or without Webcams
Presentation of student work
Multimedia chat with slideshow, whiteboard, and guided Web tour; uploaded documents
Peer review of work
Wiki or blog, chat with multimedia enhancements, discussion forums
Quizzes, exams, papers
Online interactive quizzes, upload/download of documents
Attendance, roll-taking, assessment
Tracking of access and time on task, scoring functions, electronic portfolios
Schramm, A. & A. Mabbott. (2006). Implementing an online ESL teacher education course. In Learning Languages through Technology, E. Hanson-Smith and S. Rilling (Eds.), pp. 245-256. Alexandria, VA: TESOL.
Schramm, A. & A. Mabbott. (2006). Implementing an online ESL teacher education course. In Learning Languages through Technology, E. Hanson-Smith and S. Rilling (Eds.), pp. 245-256. Alexandria, VA: TESOL.